Rise From The Sky
A moderately popular musical act, Rise From The Sky is bringing Ska back to the wastes. Made up of friends who came together to jam and relax, they are now recording their second album. History Rise From The Sky was founded by a group of friends in Emerald City in early March of 2276. The teens just plated around without any serious thought of performing, but as months went on they would find friends and relatives dropping by from time to time to listen. One of the latter would suggest that the group play at her noodle stand to attract business, which the band hesitantly agreed to. The gig started at ten a.m. and lasted through one, and while shop on saw a slight increase in customers, the band was more satisfied that a few people clapped and that they got a free bowl of noodles each. They would continue practicing at each others places over the winter and would play the noodle stand again, this time with original songs. They would draw in both fans and customers, and would even earn forty caps in donations. This would inspire the group to pursue their music more often, and 2277 would see them write more songs and perform twice more. Rise From The Sky would slow their activities for the first few months of the next year as various demands were placed on the band members, though by July they would again be playing in various houses and yards. That winter they played at a small cafe near Capitol Hill to a mixed crowd of Geigers and scavers, and while they were met with light applause, a majority of the hipsters would then say they "liked the band before they were cool." They would open 2279 by playing for a week in Passage's rest-stop, where merchants would carry their opinions of the band across Cascadia. While this gig earned them two-hundred and fifty caps, the next several months had the band only practicing intermittently, as their everyday lives made demands on their time. They would play the noodle shop every other week starting in May, and a holo would be made of one of these shows unbeknownst to them This tape would be copied and spread around town, with one given to the band by accident. While two members were upset about the copy, the others saw the benefits of it, and sought out the master. They discovered it held by an acquaintance and bought it off her for two hundred caps, then proceeded to print their own copies. These they proceeded to send off to the radio stations around the ruins, with the obvious exception of one. They would wait for a response for two weeks before finally hearing themselves on one of the smaller stations which reached into the ruins. This elated the group, who would meet scavers who said they had heard of them, many with a favorable judgement. They passed the winter in Chinatown, playing at various shops and crashing on many couches. It would be there in February that they met Tanya Robens, a caravan driver of 36 and a fan who attended all their shows that she could. Tanya would be at so many show that the band would become friends with her, especially when she said she could arrange other gigs through her caravan connections. The band would be skeptical of this, but on March 15th Tanya would prove herself by securing a gig in another Capitol Hill cafe. From there she would secure a series of shows around the Seattle-Tacoma area, gaining the band exposure as well as caps. This would culminate in September of that year when Tanya introduced Rise to Quincy Trautman, a producer looking for a new sound, who was interested in theirs. Despite his ghoulish appearance, the group would be taken in by his charisma and knowledge of techniques and the industry. After several meetings a contract would be agreed to, and the band would began recording their first album. The selection & exclusion of songs, recording and rerecording as well as the general wasteland impediments to travel would cause the process to take into the new year to complete, with the name and cover art being one of the last things chosen. The image in question was a pre-war picture of the city's wharves and the title was Drydocks. The master copy was completed in Feburary of 2281 with a first run of 350 tapes, which were sold to caravans and businesses, who would then get it into the hands of listeners. To promote the album Trautman would arrange a sort of wasteland tour, with the band playing eight locations in the sprawl, from Tacoma to Seattle. This proceeded fairly well until they were returning to Emerald City, when they were confronted by a crew of raiders from the King's Council. While looking through the group's possessions the raiders found the instruments and jokingly asked for a tune. Unwilling to refuse, Rise From The Sky played one of their songs, which pleased the raiders who then demanded another one. The band would play six more songs before the raiders were satisfied, though they would take copies of their album and most of their caps. Rise would still count this as a success and returned home in high spirits, where they would play a dozen shows over the next four months, with the rest of the year spent writing new songs. Most of 2282 would be silent however, as Beth Aorti's mother fell ill and died, with the musician mourning. She would begin to come out of the cycle in mid-October and by 2283 was practicing again with the band. Rise would continue to write and play shows around town often debuting new songs at these shows, as well as getting air-time on the settlement's radio station. In may Tanya would approach the band about making their own merchandise, having made sample shirts and buttons, which Rise liked. They would spend two caps and two months making fifty shirts and a hundred buttons, selling them at shows. They began 2284 by playing a series of scavenger camps including the radio station that they got initial airtime on, where they played several new songs. The mid-part of the year was spent playing various clubs, bars & restaurants arranged by Trautman, who wanted to keep the group in the public's mind as he hoped the group was working on their second album. When he reached out to them about the topic however, he was disappointed that they hadn't put much thought to the topic, but quickly found a solution. This resulted in the group spending the rest of the year recording six singles, which would be distributed by March 2285. This was followed by a string of shows and a n uncomfortable run-in with a FNA group in September. After this Rise would rest and recover into the new year, returning to talk to Trautman in April, who told them that he wanted to partner in their merch business, and was willing to supply the product if they were willing to split the profits evenly. The band would agree to this, and profited more than they had on their own, and were now able to comfortably take time off. This break would last into October, when they played at the noodle shop during a two week residency. That was followed by the familiar group of bars, clubs and basements as before, with the addition of greater merch sales. In February of 2287 they would begin writing and selecting tracks for their second album, and had their art and title selected fairly early in the process. Initially a conventionally arranged album, Francine would have an epiphany and convince the others to make it a concept album. This necessitated a change to the name and artwork, with the cover a sun half emerged from the horizon, and titled A day in the Life. The premise was that the album would cover those that came into Emerald City over a day, from traders to scavers, messengers & mercenaries, all of whom had their own contributions to the sound and settlement. This caused two months delay as new songs had to be written, but recording would start in late July. The band is currently wrapping up production and making plans to tour afterwards. Members *Francine Marbot; lead singer, Francine is a native of Emerald City and is the one who both brought the group together and thought of the name. *Toby Hargow; bassist, Toby is also from Emerald City and a childhood friend of Francine, as well as the one who got their first show at his aunt's noodle shop. *Langston Chen; drummer, Langston would grow up in Emerald City after his family moved from Chinatown when he was three, he was the last member to join the band. *Marvin Cleef; trumpeter, Marvin is the only one in the band not to have grown up in Emerald City, having come from Passage with his parents and met the others. *Beth Aorti; saxophonist, Beth was born & raised in Emerald City and took up the saxophone at an early age, able to play several pre-war tunes by 12, and was a quick fit for the band. *Yancy Arcado; lead guitarist, Yancy was another Emeralder that was given to music, although in his case it was a way to avoid chems, so he quickly joined the band. Category:Groups Category:Cascadia